


Glass Watches & Gala

by musikat18



Category: Almost Human
Genre: BAMF!Reader, Cinderella AU, F/M, Thinking up fashionable and versatile clothes is fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 12:52:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16913211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musikat18/pseuds/musikat18
Summary: Kennex has been told he's not allowed to investigate the InSyndicate at a gala, though he doesn't really plan on letting that stop him. When he gets in a spot of trouble due to mistaken identity, he might need a hand to save the day from a new friend.





	Glass Watches & Gala

Once upon a time, a police detective by the name of John Kennex would’ve really rather been anywhere else. 

“The reports are part of the calls, too, Kennex,” Paul frowned at the large pile of unfilled data chips on the detective’s desk. 

“We all have reports,” Kennex shot back. “I’ll do mine if you do yours. Deal?” The other detective recoiled with a huff at his colleague’s sharpness. Fine then. If Kennex wanted to be sharp, then Paul could be sharp, too. 

“Still looking into Moore’s disappearance?”

A huff of distaste puffed out of the detective’s mouth, “Does it really matter that much to you?”

“It just looks real shady looking into the ambush that you were the only one who escaped alive from. That’s all.”

Darkness clouded over the sitting man’s hazel eyes, “Thanks for the reminder.”

Paul frowned to one side and plopped a stack of new files on Kennex’s desk, “Well, these actual important things need to be filled out, and they’re yours. Try to get them done before Maldonado gets on both of our asses?"

Kennex tried not to burn a hole in the other man’s back as he walked away, but the words were stinging too hard on him. 

What was he supposed to do? Walk away from what had happened like nothing?

Act like it wasn’t now his responsibility to fix things?

Act like Martin had meant nothing to him?

Act like he wasn’t hurt by….

He hesitated, trying not to let the thought cross his mind. No, it was best not to think about her in relation to what happened.

“John? A word, please?” Maldonado’s voice shook him from his thoughts, and he held back a grimace as he stood and crossed the threshold to Maldonado’s office. This was not going to be pretty.

“If you want to tell me to apologize, I’m not going to, it’s his fault,” Kennex crossed his arms, watching Maldonado as she shut the door behind him. 

“That’s not what this is about, though I suppose it would be nice if you stopped picking fights with the other detectives.”

Kennex’s brow furrowed, and he followed her with his eyes as she made her way back to the other side of her desk.

“I know you’ve been looking into the whereabouts of the InSyndicate.”

John’s shoulders tensed. His jaw fell open as he began to explain himself, but Maldonado held up her hand.

“I didn’t really expect anything else, given what happened. I’m not mad, and I’m not putting it on your record. What I do want is to keep you informed.”

Maldonado pulled up a series of holofiles that stole Kennex’s interest away. The logo, a hotel, a man he didn’t recognize...what did she know that he didn’t?

“Tobias Tate is a business mogul with ties to lots of the biggest tech companies in the city. He also happens to have been spotted with more than a few Syndicate POIs in the last few months, and now he’s hosting a gala for all the most reputable tech distributors in the city tomorrow night. We don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

“Great,” Kennex squared his shoulders. “What do you want me to do?”

A look of consternation crossed Maldonado’s face.

“What?”

“John...you know I’m just as upset about the ambush and InSyndicate’s actions as you are.”

Kennex felt a pit in his stomach, suddenly not really liking where this was going.

“But…” he trailed off.

“It’s too close for you, John,” Maldonado said seriously. “I’m sorry. Even if you didn’t have so much other work to do, it’s too personal. I can’t send you in. It would be too easy for you to be compromised.”

Kennex’s jaw ticked, “I can handle it. If you let me and Dorian go in, we could take care of it.”

“I can’t be sure about that,” Maldonado sighed. “John, you’re one of my best detectives, but you’re not exactly known for subtlety. Or control when it comes to the Syndicate. I can’t afford losing my best detective and the upper hand to them.”

With a sharp inhale and flared nostrils, Kennex balled his fists, trying to contain his anger and disappointment. If anyone should’ve been at that gala, it was him. He needed closure. Desperately.

“...I understand, Captain,” he said, voice even and short, and he turned hard on his heel and left the office, unaware of Dorian’s eyes on him as he plopped back down at his desk and buried his nose in his reports, steam practically pouring out of his ears.

-

“I got maintenance last week, Dorian,” Kennex grumbled as the DRN model walked him to the tech lab. “I don’t need Rudy looking at my damn leg again. It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

“You don’t sound fine, though,” Dorian noted. “I saw your stress levels spiked after talking to the captain yesterday, so I listened to the audio from her office security to find out what the problem was.”

Kennex whipped his head towards Dorian, “You-- wait, you what? That’s eavesdropping! And you don’t need to scan my stress levels! My stress levels are perfectly normal!”

Dorian shot Kennex an unfortunately familiar look of judgement and disapproval. Kennex merely sighed gruffly and continued following.

“Alright, alright, what are you doing?” 

Kennex had to school his disbelief and confusion into just his eyebrows at the sight of a well-tailored black suit on a mannequin, paired with a dusty blue tie and an elaborate silver mask with subtle blue details.

“...I’m not putting on that suit.”

“It’s a masquerade gala,” Rudy insisted. “If you want to go and blend in and get the intel on the Syndicate that you want, you gotta look the part.”

Kennex huffed; he wasn’t really a fan of fancy suits and stuffed shirts, but if it would give him his chance to investigate, he supposed playing along couldn’t be terrible. He disappeared into one of the nearby locker rooms to change, and once he decided he looked spiffy and well-coiffed enough, he went back into the lab, watching Rudy calibrate an interesting-looking watch, one that looked nearly made of glass.

“Let me guess, to help me blend in with the idle rich?” Kennex asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Aesthetically, yes,” Rudy explained. “This watch has a log, a recording device, and a direct line to Dorian if you get in any trouble. I’ve synced it to your fingerprint; you’re the only one who can unlock all the higher features, since no one will be expecting you there, no one will be thinking to replicate it ahead of time.”

Kennex nodded in approval as he clicked the watch onto his wrist.

“Great. Do I get a pumpkin coach, too?”

Dorian looked a little too smug, “Nope. But I do finally get to drive the car.”

-

“This feels wrong.”

“Of course it’s wrong,” Dorian said from the driver’s seat, “that’s why we’re here.”

Kennex wanted to remind Dorian that he was going to be back in the driver’s seat by tomorrow, but he held his tongue.

“Rudy’s caught some kind of weapons signatures moving in...you have to try and figure out what the deal is by midnight. Once midnight hits, alert me with the watch, and I’ll call in backup or help extract you from there."

“Alright,” Kennex nodded. A pause… “Hey...you guys could totally get fired for helping me do this, so...thanks.”

Dorian smiled just a little. 

“You’re welcome. Now...good luck.”

John nodded to his partner and slid the mask over his face, getting out of the car and measuring his movements to blend in. Casual...relaxed...even a little confident. He strode up to the door, quickly realizing he seemed to be the last one to arrive.

“Invitation?” the doorman asked.

“It’s...excuse me, one moment,” Kennex felt a swell of panic in his chest. Was he supposed to have an invitation? He patted around his jacket, and he disguised his sigh of relief at the invitation in his inner pocket as an exhale. “Here.”

The doorman examined the document, and with a nod of approval, let Kennex in.

_Great,_ he thought. _Where to start?_

As Kennex scanned the ballroom with his eyes, he couldn’t help noticing a man who looked remarkably like the Tobias Tate shown to him by Maldonado...with a companion.

-

You were getting rather bored of entertaining Mr. Tate. He was a charming host, that much was certain, but you had some bigger fish to fry and other things to worry about. 

_Silver mask, blue tie_ , you reminded yourself. _Silver mask, blue tie...that’s the saboteur._

Your eyes swept the ballroom one more time, pretending to laugh at something Mr. Tate had said, when your glance finally fell on a latecomer, striding into the ballroom in-- what else?-- a dusty blue tie and a silver mask.

“Will you excuse me for a moment?” you smiled sweetly at Mr. Tate.

“Eager to leave before the grand announcement?” he feigned disappointment, but you kept up your playful facade. 

“Oh, don’t think me such a lightweight, Mr. Tate,” you giggled. “I just need some fresh air.”

You unwound yourself from his arm and headed to the stairs, careful not to get too ahead of yourself or your wide skirt. Your eyes flitted back to your target-- he was still watching you. As he came closer, you feigned a stumble.

“Are you alright?” he asked, steadying you as you moved to the ground floor.

“Oh, yes, I’m just fine,” you said, laughing off your feigned faux pas. “Even the best pair of heels can be so uncooperative.” You fluffed your gilded white skirt in lieu of exposing your footwear.

“I can’t relate, but you have my sympathy.”

When the song changed, you offered him your hand.

“Think I could thank you with a dance?”

You felt a little flustered by the intent, hazel gaze under the mask, but steeled yourself under a charming smile.

He took your arm with a disarming smile of his own, “I think that should suffice.”

-

Kennex had to admit, you were making a very good distraction. Though, were you in on the scheme? He supposed it was better to be safe than sorry, holding your waist in one hand and your hand in the other. If he thought about it long enough, you fit against him rather well.

“So Mr. Tate seems like he likes you quite a bit,” he began, trying to open a conversation to see what you might know.

“Yes,” you smiled, “I’ve been told I’m quite charming. Though I think you could give me a run for my money, that was quite the smooth save back there. Most people here might’ve just let me fall.”

“You? How rude.”

You shrugged a little, “Well, I’m not exactly important. Believe it or not, this is my first rodeo. I’m not very into the party circuit. I like to be behind the scenes.”

Kennex cursed your ruby-crusted mask for concealing your face. You would be much easier to read if he could see your cheekbones.

Undeterred, he continued on, “What kind of behind the scenes?”

“Well, I’m not exactly a billionaire. But I’d certainly say my services are invaluable, anyway.”

Kennex was caught a little off-guard when you moved your hand away from his shoulder to curve around his tie, “But I want to know about you. What brings you by? Just another stuffed shirt? You don’t act like it.”

He chuckled and took your hand, “Guilty as charged. I’m like you, I guess. Behind the scenes.”

Kennex was suddenly very unnerved by the way your eyes iced over behind your mask.

“It’s nice to find a kindred spirit,” your eyes flickered to his watch, and his stomach dropped at the time. 11:59...had it really been fifteen minutes? It was too close to the endgame.

Your voice jolted him from his thoughts, eyes tracing over the handiwork of the glassy, intricate piece, “That’s a lovely watch. Very interesting. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A beat.

“...Thank you. It was a gift. I...I think I should move along...wouldn’t want to ignore the host, I should look for Mr. Tate…”

Too close. He was coming too close to being made. How had you made him? Had you made him?

“Getting shy on me?” you grabbed his wrist, fingers clasping around the edges of the watch, and you looked him dead in the eyes as you hissed under your breath, “What the fuck are you planning to do to these people?”

Several explosions suddenly shook the room, jolting the two of you apart. 

-

Kennex felt his heart rate spike, and he took a moment to shake himself away from an ambush a year and a half ago.

_Midnight,_ Kennex realized with worry. He felt down around his wrist, suddenly feeling a well of panic when he realized Rudy’s watch was missing. He stood and began whirling around, trying to find where it could have fallen off in the excitement. 

He almost felt lucky to catch a glimpse of you dashing off up the stairs again-- were you wearing combat boots? Kennex saw you turn and look over the chaos, messing frantically with the watch and looking around with frantic confusion when nothing happened.

“Dammit,” he grumbled under his breath. So help wasn’t going to be coming, not as long as you had his watch. Kennex turned his attention to the masked attackers, dressed in finery and shooting down at the fleeing partygoers. He practically jumped up the opposite set of stairs, slamming the face of one into the balcony railing and running towards another, only to be nailed down by a man in a silver mask and dusty blue tie. His assailant shoved the mask up off of Kennex’s face, and an evil grin developed.

“Detective John Kennex,” he smirked, stomping Kennex’s lights out.

He was beginning to understand why you were suddenly so hostile.

-

_ Access denied. Access denied. Access denied.  _

“Dammit,” you grumbled under your breath, scrambling up the stairs with the watch. Why were none of the attacks stopping? “Open up!”

_ Access only authorized to Detective John R. Kennex. _

“Detective?” you muttered under your breath.

Wheels began turning in your head as you watched the man you’d nicked the watch from run up the stairs and attack one of the assailants before being tackled by another man in silver and blue.

“Oh...shit….”

You tore away the overlay of your skirt and pressed the button hidden in the embroidery of your bodice, protective sleeves sliding out from the caps. You pocketed the watch in one of your pants pockets and broke off into a run. 

You didn’t know who this Detective Kennex was or what he was doing here, but it seemed better to have one kind-of competent ally around in this firefight than none at all.

Running up to the rooftop from the stairs, though, you encountered a bit of a problem.

-

“Are you serious?” Kennex grumbled, not really a fan of this whole damsel-in-distressing. He tugged his wrists hard against the pole, deciding he hadn’t held his wrists tight enough when he got tied down to slip out now.

“I’m always serious about not getting my ass blown to hell by the FBI,” his assailant said. “Now, I’m gonna leave you here for our fairweather friend to find, and I’m gonna-”

“Freeze, FBI!” 

Both Kennex and his attacker snapped their heads to look at you, gun pointed, mask still on, and clearly trying to make sense of the situation. If Kennex knew how to alert you to the danger, he would, but he felt vastly unlucky that your apparent actual target also seemed to be a dark-haired male.

“Thank god,” the impostor said with a sigh of relief. “Glad you made it out okay.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Kennex barked, “Don’t listen to him!”

A hint of hesitation in your eyes. Your gaze flickered between the two men, not sure what to do or who to trust. 

“...Unlock the watch, then.”

This seemed to take both men by surprise.

“Pardon me?” The standing man chuckled. “What watch?”

“The watch,” you kept your gun up with one hand and used the other to dig into your pants pocket and pull out the glassy watch, clasp broken but otherwise intact. “The one that broke in the explosion. I found it on the ground. I’m very sure I remember you wearing it.”

If Kennex had his mask off and was standing, you might have noticed him grin. The other man, meanwhile, froze at your challenge.

“I...of course.”

He took cautious steps forward, and you kept as tight a grip you could on the watch as he pressed his thumb to the face.

_ Access denied. _

The man went to strike you, but you blocked his arm, stomped the inside of his knee, and struck him hard across the face, knocking him to the ground and turning him flat on his back.

“You’re under arrest for association with the criminal organization InSyndicate and organizing and partaking in a violent attack on a private event on private premises.”

Kennex fidgeted as you read the man his rights and picked up the watch from where it had been knocked to the ground. You approached Kennex and cut one of his wrists free. 

“I’m guessing this is yours, but it’s really better to be safe than sorry,” you said, smiling a little. He chuckled under his breath and pressed his thumb to the face of the watch, smiling as it lit up with commands and buttons.

_Hello, John Reginald Kennex,_ the screen read, and Kennex huffed at the name as you suppressed a laugh. _Calling Dorian._

“John!” The DRN’s face appeared on the screen, “Are you alright? You didn’t call at midnight. Did something happen?”

“Got a little caught up, Dorian,” Kennex said. “We...might have a little to talk about to the FBI, but that’s fine. I’m alright. Is everyone okay from the gala?”

“Minimal casualties, Maldonado sent in Paul. He alerted the proper authorities, they’re getting treatment.”

Kennex scoffed, “Ugh, I can’t believe she sent him of all...fine, great. Okay. Get somewhere they won’t recognize you, I’ll find your coordinates.” 

When Kennex closed the call, he took his mask off. You decided he was pleasant-looking.

“Sorry if I kind of derailed your entire operation,” he said. “I...InSyndicate is kind of personal for me. My captain didn’t want me coming, but I...I couldn’t leave it alone.”

“Me too,” your lips pulled into a soft smile, “not the unsanctioned investigation thing, the personal part. I’m sorry I thought you were with them. Y/N Y/L/N, FBI Cyber Crimes unit.”

“John Kennex,” he grinned back. “I work in Investigations in the Delta section, near my place in District 07.”

“Funny,” you pushed your mask up onto your forehead and chewed at your lip, “I...also live in District 07.”

Kennex had to fight a boyish grin off his face. Smart and badass and beautiful…. He understood where you got that ‘charming’ line from.

“Well, that’s a real funny coincidence. Might have more in common with you than I expected.” 

“Yeah,” you nodded. “So...I guess you did kind of get in the way of an official FBI investigation. But it wasn’t actually your fault that you dressed like the perp, so I’ll just let you off with a strong warning.”

“Thanks, Agent,” Kennex smirked. “I’m...assuming Agent. It is Agent, isn’t it?”

“Sure,” you laughed. “Agent.” You scribbled something down on a notepad from your pocket and tore the paper for him. “If you need anything...or want anything...give me a call.”

Kennex had to smile down at the phone number written under the name Agent.

This debacle of a stakeout was turning into what seemed to be able to lead to a happily ever after….


End file.
